This last weekend, Jose and I turned our city slicker Rav4 into a true SUV.  I now feel fully justified driving a larger vehicle!  Friends of ours had invited us a few weeks ago to come along on a canoe trip and we figured, why not?  So Friday found us strapping a bright red canoe to the top of our Rav.  We’re such rookies, I even had to go out and buy ratchet ties so we could do so!  Our destination was Tolman Bridge campground, north of Drumheller, and the trip went smoothly for the most part.  It was quite windy for the first hour or so on the way there, and one of the ties slipped a little but nothing major.  The canoe stayed on top of the vehicle, and we found our way to the campsite without issue.

As soon as we arrived, we began setting up our camp.  It was nearly 9:00pm, so we didn’t want to waste any daylight.  I was extremely excited to see my friend Mabyn again.  It had been about four years since I’d last seen her, and we’d each had a child in that time!  We visited for a little while, but it got late quickly with all of the camp preparations and we had a busy day ahead so we saved most of our catching up for later.

Saturday was Canoe Trip Day.  Everybody got moving relatively slowly.  Our kids were the oldest so we were the first ones ready for a change!  The canoe trip was going to start in Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, so we had to drive from the campground to get there.  We stopped for a view of Dry Island before going down into the valley to the canoe launch.  It was lunchtime when we arrived at the launch, so our group parked on a patch of shady grass and pulled out food.  It’s such a neat area in those hills that we went for an exploratory hike before hitting the water.  James led the way and with ten adults and three other kids following along, he took us on quite the tour!  I now believe that he’s part mountain goat: that kid can climb!  And I’m out of shape, so I was huffing and puffing pretty quickly.

Getting the canoes off the vehicles, loaded, and everyone ready to go in them took some time.  We were finally off and in the water though and on our way down the Red Deer River.  I admit to being apprehensive, as I’m not much of a water person.  I overheard Mabyn telling her husband Brad to keep the canoe straight on or it would tip.  That freaked me out a little, as the last thing I wanted was to be dumped into the river with two small children!  We didn’t dump though and once Jose and I figured out our rhythm (and I stopped snapping at him), we got along swimmingly!  It was a perfect day: the weather was beautiful, the water was gentle and we had a break from the relentless mosquitoes that inhabited the campground.  Julia whined about her life jacket being too tight because she was tired but once she got her little fingers trailing along in the water, she seemed to forget about it.  The kids took turns using a paddle that Jess and Ryan got for Baby Ada.  Ada is still too little for it, so they brought it for James and Julia.  That was a big hit!  So was stopping for a bit of a swim.  Well, the other grownups swam, the Samayoas just waded and James and Julia played in the mud.  James says “it was squishy and deep.”  The entire day was a great experience.  Jose may disagree, as I get annoying when I’m stressed, and like I said, I was stressed at the beginning about the canoe tipping over!  However, the kids had a wonderful time, and really that’s my main goal: to build good memories and experiences for them.  Let me tell you, it didn’t take long for them to fall asleep that night!  I lay in the tent with them for awhile so they wouldn’t fool around.  James was the first to go, and once there was no one to talk to, Julia was not far behind.

Both nights in the tent went really well.  It rained both times but other than a little damp at the edges, we stayed dry.  I didn’t sleep very well out of concern for the kids.  I kept checking them to see if they were dry.  James especially since he was at the edge.  But they slept through, even when it was thundering the second night!  And they were the last ones to get up each morning too!  Can’t ask for better.

Sunday’s plan was to hike around the campground which was precisely what we did!  We went up hill and down dale and got a great workout in some incredible landscape.  Once again, James amazed me with his mountain goat abilities, and even Julia did extremely well.  She rode on Jose’s shoulders some, but she walked as much as she could.  If James is a mountain goat, Julia is a little monkey.  At one point we were going down a very steep hill, and Jose put her up on his shoulders for it.  He needed both hands to get down, so she just clung to his head and neck with arms and legs.  She didn’t so much as slip and she did it without strangling Jose!

After the hike, the kids played at a playground for awhile then it was time for lunch and packing up.  The weekend went by all too quickly.  There was discussion about making this a yearly event; an idea I’m all for.  It takes a lot of work to get ready for such a trip, but it was definitely worth it!

To see pictures of our adventures, go to our Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/acidocitrico/sets/72157624533202794/

Everyone always asks, “Where does the time go?”  I’ve been wondering that myself lately, cliche as it may be.  How do I have the whole package deal?  Husband, two kids (one who’s five!), dog, house, two cars, career…  I still catch myself feeling surprised that I’m all grown up!

Julia came into our lives three years ago today.  What a precious gift we were given that day and everyone who knows her would agree.  She is her own little person, that’s for sure!  Jose and I can see elements of ourselves in her, but altogether, she’s a completely unique individual.  In some ways, she embodies contradictions: she’s tiny but with a big personality; she’s a total princess who loves having her hair done, who’s favourite colour is pink, who adores trying on clothes but you should see her wrestle with James!  She’s sweet and cuddly and sometimes a little shy but boy is she independent.

We’ve had a busy day today in honour of Julia’s birthday.  The morning started off with presents of course.  Jose was able to sleep in and go into work late because he’d been traveling for work, and didn’t get home until after 1:00am last night.  Jose and I gave Julia a vanity table to go with her Rose Petal Cottage, James picked out a Little Mermaid Barbie for her, and Sammy gave her a fairy princess puzzle.  She also received a gift card for Toys R Us from my dad and Sue.  She was over the moon about everything!  After breakfast, we played Aggravation for a little bit, then Jose hit the road for work.  The kids and I got in motion, and then followed Jose out the door an hour or so later.  Our first stop was to take lunch to Jose.  We ate in the car with him, and then I had to make a couple of trips back and forth from Hi Way Service to my school to drop off the water bottles that the company donated.  Next was Costco.  They sell movie coupons there that are a pretty good deal, and since Julia’s special event tonight is to go see Toy Story 3, I figured that was the best place to get them.  The most exciting part for the kids was the trip to Toys R Us to spend Julia’s gift money.  After much deliberation and fruitless searching for something to go with her vanity table (don’t even get me started!), Julia settled on a Fur Real kitty who moves and meows.  Her name is Isabella, and Julia loves her.  We also picked up tickets for the movie tonight, and got some gas (so exciting, I know!), and once we were home, made some cookie dough which will have to wait until tomorrow to become cookies as they have to chill, and I was not aware of that.  Right now, the kids are playing (nicely for the most part), and I’m relaxing on the couch with Isabella snuggled in next to me.

One more little anecdote before we jaunt off once more.  I was so proud of James yesterday while we were shopping for Julia’s birthday present.  I had intended to go shopping for her on the weekend, but with the spontaneous camping trip, it didn’t happen.  I didn’t think too much about it, but then Jose left on his business trip early Monday morning, and it dawned on me that I had no idea how to pull off a successful gift purchase with Julia right under my nose!  I asked James to work with me on this dilemma, and he took his job so seriously!  While I was looking in one row, James had Julia by the hand showing her toys in another row.  Then I took a turn to watch her while I deliberated, and James picked out his gift for her.  He sneaked out of the Barbie aisle with a box behind his back and a conspiratorial smile on his face.  I took over hiding the box and made my final decision on a present and then James marched Julia towards the checkout in front of me while I hid two boxes behind my back.  I was rather glad for a brief (very brief) moment that I am no longer my 120 pound self.  Much easier to hide stuff behind a wide bottom than a skinny one.  As I paid, James steered his little sister to the mini merry-go-round.  I asked the cashier to double bag the boxes, and we were golden!  Julia didn’t have a clue what was going on, she didn’t even ask what I was paying for!  Later, James chose a birthday card for Julia all by himself, then all by himself he wrapped the present and signed the card.  The ONLY help I gave was how to spell “Julia” and “love”.  He knew how to spell “To” and of course, his own name.  He completely wrapped the present, and it turned out better than some things I’ve wrapped as an adult!  His pride in his efforts was so nice to see.  He enjoyed picking out the gift and card all on his own, and that makes it so much more personal.  As he was putting a sticker on the card’s envelope, he asked me what it said.  When I told him it said “Fantastic” he said, “Julia is fantastic. She looks fantastic when she has her hair done.”  I just about cried it was so sweet.

Well, off to Boston Pizza, then the movie vader.  After that, I’m pretty sure my bed will be most welcoming!

On Friday, we made a spontaneous decision to meet Jose’s mum out at Beaver Mine for a camping trip.  Mama Loli and her husband Ed were already out there with their RV, and called to invite us to come.  We decided “Why not?” and are so glad we went. 

Beaver Mine is on the way to Castle Mountain.  Mama Loli and Ed had found a nice spot and pulled off to set up their RV.  It was nice and private, and absolutely beautiful.  I’d never camped outside a campground before, so this was a new experience for me.  When we arrived, I was a little nervous as there was a drop-off to the creek below.  However, we were very firm with the kids about staying away from the edge, and they were great!  Same with the fire.  The campfire was just always going, and Julia especially was a little afraid of it, which made her extra cautious.  Not a bad thing!

The two days we spent there were nice and relaxing – just the way camping should be.  And with the RV, we had all the amenities – running water, bathroom, even a TV which I was really hoping to avoid.  Mama Loli snuck one movie in, but I don’t think the kids even finished it.  Once they’re out in the fresh air, they can’t get enough.  They were really good, and had an absolute blast.  There were so many things to do, they just didn’t have time to bicker or be bored.  We wandered down to the creek a few times, and the kids could have stayed there for hours throwing rocks.  I brought some sports equipment like a soccer ball, scoops, velcro catch, and we spent some time with those as well.  Julia set herself up at the picnic table and coloured for quite awhile.  She just loves colouring.  James was a big fan of poking the fire and we had to watch him closely.  He got pretty good about not waving his stick around and tamping it in the dirt instead though.  We spent many hours just sitting in front of the fire, mesmerized.  Of course, the tent was a big draw.  James and Julia spent quite awhile bouncing around in there.  It goes to show that kids really don’t need any toys.  The kids were perfectly capable of entertaining themselves, and did so. 

Sam came with us and his behaviour was a pleasant surprise.  He loved being out there.  When we went down to the creek to throw rocks, Sam came too.  He wandered off a couple of times following a scent (we forgot his leash), but he came back when he was called.  He liked drinking out of the creek too.  Back at camp, Sammy hunkered down quite close to the fire and snoozed.  When he got too toasty, he’d roll over.  After his excursions to the creek, he was worn out and so, nice and quiet!  We brought his little tent along, and he slept quite happily in there all night.  The only downside was that he pulled his not eating routine, and threw up very early in the morning.  Jose rinsed his blanket in the creek, and we all went back to sleep for a few more hours.

Hopefully we’ll get to do some more of this.  Mama Loli and Ed are planning to camp out at Elk Water for a week, and even if Jose can’t come, the kids and I might join them.  We have a canoeing/camping trip planned for the middle of July, so there’s also that to look forward to.  That will be more like “real” camping, as there won’t be any RVs to rely on.  The friends we’re going with are uber-campers – the kind that hike into a remote spot with only what they can carry on their backs.  Not my style.  I need to be able to hit up a convenience store for whatever I’ve forgotten (like the leash and Pull-Ups this time)!  It will be fun though as we’re not hiking into our camp, we’ll be “car camping” as they call it.  I’m looking forward to it. 

This weekend sure set the tone for the rest of the summer.   I’m excited to see what the next few weeks will bring.  My only worry is that it will be over before I know it.  C’est la vie I suppose!

Check out the pictures from the trip at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/acidocitrico/collections/72157624310745859/.

This evening I fed my half Spanish-half white kids some Vietnamese food.  It’s our favourite these days, and tonight I tried my hand at making my own.  To be perfectly, brutally honest, it was delicious!  Jose stuffed himself with two helpings and James and Julia really enjoyed it too.  Julia dipped bits of hers (mainly the veggies, but her spring roll too) in Caesar salad dressing.  James dipped his in ketchup.  Personally I felt that was verging on sacrilegious, but I can say one thing for my kids: they’re not picky eaters!  In fact, James was asking where the salad rolls were.

“Mummy, you just need to get some sticky, see-through skin, and put shrimp and rice and broccoli in and roll it up. That’s what I would do if I were you.”  Thanks, James, I’ll keep that in mind for next time!

In other news, a major change has occurred in our life.  James and Julia’s wonderfully fantastic babysitter has decided to close her day home as of August.  Besides being very sad, we are in a bit of a scramble to find childcare.  We also made the big decision to switch our intended schools.  I had planned to put James in the school that Bobbie’s kid are zoned for since she’d be driving him.  It’s also a great school from what I heard.  Julia was going to go to the preschool James is currently in, which is an awesome preschool with a great teacher.  However, since we have to make childcare changes anyway, we decided we’d put both kids into Galbraith – my school.  James will go to kindergarten, and Julia’s on the waiting list for our brand new preschool.  Both kids will be going Mon.-Thurs. mornings.  Now I just need to find them a place to stay for the rest of the time!!  I’m really excited to have the kids coming to school with me.  I’ll be able to go to all of their events now, and I won’t have to take time off work!  The kids are really excited too.  James received a Welcome to Kindergarten package, and at this very moment, he’s outside blowing his “kindergarten bubbles” that came in it.  He’s been drawing with his kindergarten chalk, cutting with his kindergarten scissors, and reading his kindergarten books!  Where God closes a door, he always opens a window.  Thanks be to God.

The Samayoa family has been fairly busy lately!

Right now, the kids are participating swimming lessons.  Julia is doing the parent and tot class, and James is in on his own with a teacher.  Both of them love the water, so I’m grateful that they inherited their fish-like qualities from their father, and not any rock-like qualities from me.  Julia has been going in the water with Jose mostly, and I have been interested to note that at the first 3 sessions, the class has consisted of a majority of dads (about 7:3).  As a result, Jose doesn’t feel out of place.  Julia laughs and shrieks from the first moment she gets into the pool, she just loves it.  James is doing a great job in his lessons.  He’s learning to float on his front and back unassisted, and to go out to the deep end on a pool noodle, and according to his teacher, he’s “doing amazing.”  As with most things, James swims with exuberance.  After his first class, we had to talk to him about listening to his teacher instead of fooling around, but he’s improved markedly since then.  They’re swimming today again, but I will be missing it because I’m currently sitting in my mum’s kitchen in Cochrane.  Jose enlisted the help of Papa Toño.  He arrived in Lethbridge last night, and the plan is that he will go in with James as it’s parent participation day, and Jose will take Julia.

Before swimming lessons, the kids took gymnastics lessons this spring.  That was a weekly Saturday event as well, and lots of fun.  Julia was once again enrolled in a parent/tot class, and for the most part I went in with her, although she was also accompanied by her Papa and Auntie Catherine at various points.  James had a gymnastics birthday party in March for his fifth birthday.  That’s sure a great way to do a party!  We were able to invite lots of kids, and all I had to do was hand over my Visa number!  Ok, so I also baked a cake, and brought some fruit and veggies, but the mess was out of my house, and I loved it!  The kids really enjoyed themselves.  James especially, but he was incredibly wired.  At his lesson in the morning, his coach had to give him a talking-to, and he had to do some sitting out at the birthday party.  Too much excitement for one little boy!

James was playing soccer until the beginning of March.  I asked him if he wanted to play outdoor soccer, but on the last day, he decided he didn’t want to.  There was a little boy on the other team who was picking on him that day, and I think that soured him on the idea.  In retrospect, I’m rather glad he didn’t want to play because we haven’t had the nicest spring (it’s snowing right now and it will be June in 3 more days), and sitting around outside in less than ideal weather conditions does not appeal to me.

Julia can’t wait to start ballet in the fall.  And I didn’t even have to coerce her into wanting to dance!  The girls at the day home do ballet, and that’s where she picked up the idea that she wanted to do ballet too.  She’s going to look adorable!  James got her some real ballet shoes for Christmas, so she’s raring to go!  Also on her list of things she’s excited for in the fall: preschool and Sunday School (instead of just going to the “laundry” or nursery).  She can’t wait to be a big girl, but I would like to cling to these moments of littleness.  She asks me regularly, “Mummy, when am I grown up?”  Rather sad in my opinion.

It’s hard to believe how big my kids are getting.  They are capable of so many things.  I consider myself very blessed to have two such healthy, bright babies.  When I look at some of the things the kids at school struggle with, I know I am blessed indeed.  James knows all his letters, and his number sense is quite something.  He’ll be counting sleeps to an exciting event, and will know how many are left when he wakes up in the morning without me telling him.  It’s really handy when I’m in a room without a clock, because I can ask him to read the numbers off a digital clock!  Julia can count consistently to 12, and she can actually count objects correctly, not just rattle of a list of memorized numbers.  James is up to 30 with just a little help at 17 (he tends to skip from 16 to 19!).  He’s off to kindergarten in the fall, and he’s definitely ready.  I just hope he’s not bored!  He soaks things up like a little sponge.  With his understanding of words and letters (he loves to play rhyming and opposite games, and “what does this word start with?”), it wouldn’t surprise me if he could read some words by the end of the summer.

Through the winter and into spring, our family stayed pretty healthy.  Julia had something flu-like a couple of times, but we haven’t seen much of James’ asthmatic cough.  He did get a mosquito bite that got infected though.  However, with a little “mezitin” it’s all better.  I’m just hoping this isn’t a regular occurrence.  It’s happened before.  Not surprising really when you watch him play outside.  He’d stay outside all day if we let him, playing in the dirt, climbing, looking for bugs, flinging sand (yes, he still flings sand).  I got him a bug catching kit, and he’s been examining all sorts of creepy crawlies.  Another thing that Julia says she’ll do when she’s bigger is hold a ladybug, a snake, and a crocodile (the snake part comes from James holding a snake in Drumheller, and the crocodile part comes from James saying he’s going to hold a crocodile one day).  She has an aversion to things creepy, crawly and feathered, just like me.  And I swear I didn’t pass it along by my actions!  I’ve been very encouraging about touching those types of things (as much as I can without getting too close myself of course), but she just doesn’t like those kinds of creatures.  We just keep trying to calmly reassure her about them, and hopefully she won’t be as easily freaked out as I am when she grows up.

Jose and I are both plugging away at work.  Jose’s company continues to buy up Case dealerships, so he’s been traveling more in the last year.  He’s also done some work on the side under his very own company’s name, SamayoaTech.  I think it would be cool for him to strike out on his own, but he’s not sold on the idea.  I am counting the days until summer (22!).  It’s been a bit of a rough year, as I’ve had a class that takes a lot of energy (to put it nicely).  I’ll be moving up to grade 4 next year because our district had to cut 15 teachers, and one of them was at our school.  Due to numbers, I was the lucky winner of a promotion.  I’m looking forward to the fall.  It means I leave behind an amazing team, but I get to work with a very good friend again.  I have to take 1/3 of my class with me, but I’m hoping to reap some of the benefits of my hard work this year!  There’s always a silver lining if you look for it.

I think that’s enough for now.  Now that I’ve got a posting up, it’s a little less daunting to do more.  Obviously I haven’t written about our entire life from January until now, but maybe I can fill in a few holes in the next little while.  And then there are pictures.  One day soon I hope!

Christmas 2009 was, in a word, fabulous.  It was pretty much everything I wanted it to be.  Leading up to Christmas, we has an Advent calendar routine every night where we’d use a book and calendar set that’s been in use since I was very young.  The book follows the journey of Mary and Joseph of course, but also the Wise Men starting with the dark times in the Old Testament and Isaiah’s prophecies.  It has a matching calendar, and even though the little doors struggle to stay open these days, and the edges are looking rather worn, the book and calendar are an integral part of preparing for Christmas.  I love sharing that with my family.  We also have a second calendar that’s a pop-up so we opened a door on it each night too, and sang “Light the Advent Candle.”

As part of Christmas preparations we got a tree (a real one), and set up the rest of the Christmas decorations in the house.  To me, the preparations for Christmas are almost as important as Christmas itself.  Naturally the kids were excited about Santa coming, but they were excited about learning the real meaning of Christmas too.

Julia has loved Santa since last year, and this year was no different.  She had no problem sitting on Santa’s knee at both Jose’s and my kids’ Christmas parties at work, and even gave the first Santa a kiss, which Jose managed to capture beautifully on camera.

Christmas Eve arrived, and we ate tourtiere as per my family’s tradition.  For the first time ever, I made my own tourtiere!  More importantly, it tasted like tourtiere!  Christmas Eve is always a little rushed as the service at St. Augustine’s starts at 7:00, and it’s always packed so we have to get there in good time to get a seat.  I love the Christmas Eve service.  It’s just beautiful.  The only problem is that it doesn’t end until 9:00 or so, and we have a lot of little traditions to complete before the kids go to bed.  First, the Christmas jammies are opened and put on.  The stockings come next followed by setting out cookies and milk for Santa.  The last calendar doors are opened, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is read, and the kids finally find their way to bed.  Then Jose and I set up the stockings and hang out for a bit before finding our own visions of sugarplums.  This year was a little different in that after the final preparations for Christmas morning, I went back to church for the late service.  I am part of the hand bell choir and we were playing at that service.  As late as it was, I enjoyed the service.  We had different music for the most part, and we played well too which was the icing on the cake.

I think I need to leave off here for now.  I’ve been tormented with migraines this week, and need to keep them at bay by getting a good night’s sleep.

Just a quick note to say we have not fallen off the face of the planet. We are alive and very well, had a great Christmas and New Year’s (which I will describe in more detail when I’m not sneaking this in at work!), and are preparing to celebrate Jose’s 34th birthday. I will also describe for you how Julia almost broke her fingers, how James is doing at preschool, my efforts at getting him registered for kindergarten (yes! Kindergarten!), and the kids’ upcoming gymnastics lessons. All this and more coming soon!

While we watch the last quarter of the Grey Cup game, and hope for a  Roughrider victory, I’ll update you on our weekend.

Friday night, Jose and I went to a Galbraith staff party.  It was kind of a celebration of making it through parent/teacher interviews.  We got a babysitter, and had a great time.  There was tons of good food, and we had lots of laughs.  We had one game of pool, tried to play a name that tune game, but the disc didn’t work, and mostly sat around sharing stories, and laughing our faces off.

Yesterday, Jose’s company held a kids’ Christmas party in the morning, so we went to that, and just like last year, the kids had a blast.  Once again, they’d rented a great big Astro Jump, and James got all sweaty jumping around, and Julia’s braid was much more untidy than when we started.  They had all sorts of stations set up to entertain the kids: tattoos, cookie decorating, ornament-making, colouring (I’d like to pause for a moment to say, “TOUCHDOWN!!!!!”), and snacks.  Santa came for a visit too, and both kids were eager to sit on his knee and receive their gift.  They got really nice little gift bags with a colouring book, a pencil, a sheet of stickers, and some chocolates. 

From the party, we went home to throw some clothes in a suitcase, grab Sam, and take off for Medicine Hat so I could go to Natalia’s baby shower.  Jose’s mum put a ton of work into the shower, and it was really nice.  Lots of food, games, prizes, and a really good turnout made for a memorable event.  Natalia got lots of beautiful gifts with no repeats!  Considering the number of people, that was quite a surprise. 

We stayed overnight at Natalia’s house, and then we came home today.  I thought it would be fun to go and get pictures with Santa taken, but apparently Santa goes back to the North Pole at 4:00, so we missed him.  We wandered down to Winners and I got a few ideas for Christmas ideas for the kids.

That brings us to the present moment where we are hoping that the Saskatchewan Roughriders can hold onto their lead!  Go Riders!

The Saturday of our mini vacation began with a visit to Reptile World in Drumheller.  It’s really cool, but I started to feel a little creepy after awhile.  They have (according to their website) over 200 amphibians and reptiles.  There were snakes that were wider around that James and Julia put together.  Ew!  A 600lb alligator named Fred lives there, along with a boa constrictor named Brittany who you can hold.  James held her, although he didn’t want her around his neck (I do NOT blame him! I wouldn’t even go close to it).  Jose took a turn with Brittany and did put her around his neck.  When she started moving to be face to face with him though, Jose quickly gave her back.  Julia got close, but wouldn’t touch the snake.  Both kids really enjoyed the tour, and I think learned something about these types of creatures.  Even I was fascinated and learned a lot.  Another place in Drumheller worth visiting.

That afternoon we went to Fossil World, another Drumheller attraction.  It’s new as of May, so if you haven’t been to Drumheller in awhile, it’s a place that our kids loved.  It was kind of expensive, but we had a great time.  We started with a fossil dig for James and Julia.  They got to go in one of three sand pits that had a model of a real dig buried in it along with little fossils for them to put in their buckets.  They were given a bucket, a shovel and a brush and let loose.  It took a bit of encouraging and demonstrating at first, but they caught on.  Julia preferred to just play with the sand. Each kid got to keep a fossil that they dug up.  They were so proud of them!

After the fossil dig, James played on their playground, but Julia wasn’t interested.  She wandered around looking at the fossils, and was attracted to a life size model of T-Rex.  She ran towards it yelling, “Mummy, look!  Dinosaur!”  At that point it came to life, moved and made noise.  Julia freaked out and ran away crying.  It reminded me very much of my first experience with Megamunch, the robotic dinosaur at the Regina museum.  It was very similar to Julia’s!  This one though is truly incredible.  It’s set off by a sensor, not a button, so it seems that much more real.  You can’t hear the hydraulics working, and the movements are amazing.  The dinosaur blinks, squints, turns its head, breathes, and moves its arms.  James loved it, and wanted to keep setting it off.  We had fun looking at the fossils they had there as well.

I’m so glad we went on this trip together.  It was great family time, and the kids are still talking about it.  I want to give them a wide range of experiences, and expose them to science, culture, nature, music… you name it!

On a different note, Julia has decided that she wants to do ballet.  Kelcie at the day home does ballet, and Julia really looks up to her (Kelcie is James’ age).  And now Julia wants to do ballet!!!  She would have anyway just because of who I am, but I’m so happy that she really wants to take it.  I won’t feel like I pushed her into it.

If you want to check out where we were in Drumheller, here are some websites:
Royal Tyrrell Museum: http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/
Reptile World: http://www.reptileworld.net/
Fossil World: http://www.fossil-world.com/

We were in the Toyota dealership yesterday taking a look at the Rav4′s. Jose and I are considering trading in the lease on the Matrix for one. We were waiting for the sales guy, and James and I took a little stroll around the show room looking at the various vehicles. We came to a grey Matrix just like ours so I pointed it out to James and said, “Does that look familiar?” He replied, “Yeah, it’s just like ours but without the dents!” Gah!! Just what you need blurted out when you’re trying to swing a good deal! Luckily there was no one around (I don’t think), and James was quickly shushed.